It was only seven when he slid from the bed and took a shower. When he came back into the bedroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, Liz was awake, her eyes still heavy-lidded with sleep. She looked magnificent and incredibly tempting. Still. Always.
“You’re up early,” she observed.
He heard the regret in her voice and grinned. “Believe me, I’d rather be back in that bed with you, but we need to get back to my place.”
“Hank’s there.”
“True, but Sarah’s coming back.”
“Yes, of course. I’d forgotten.” Her voice went flat and the fire in her eyes dimmed.
Todd went to sit on the edge of the bed. He braced his hands on either side of her and leaned down to press a kiss to lips still swollen and sensual from a night of passionate lovemaking. “What’s wrong?”
“Who said anything’s wrong?”
“Is it Sarah? You’re not jealous of her, are you? There’s no reason to be. She may be back in my life, but she is still very much the past, romantically speaking. You’re my present, my future.”
Her arms crept around his neck at that. Her kiss was a little desperate, demanding, hungry, even after so many others. “Make love to me, Todd. Again. I need you so.”
His body responded at once to her urging. His head resisted. “We really need…”
Her lips were on his shoulders, his chest. Her hands provoked and teased until his protests died. He came alive to her touch, his arousal more urgent than even the first, his need as sharp and demanding as hers. She pulled him to her, crying out her need, seeking something more, luring him beyond past heights until tension shattered into a thousand bits of pleasure that shimmered forever before finally dimming into exhausted contentment.
“I don’t think I’ll ever move again,” he said, sprawled on his back, Liz’s leg draped across his.
“It’s okay with me. I could stay this way forever.”
“Probably not forever,” he said practically.
“I suppose sooner or later we’d want food,” she conceded.
“Maybe a little wine.”
“A swim would be refreshing.”
“Maybe a video, an old Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy film.”
She lifted herself to one elbow and grinned at him. “I’ve always said the excitement doesn’t last. It’s not even twenty-four hours and you want to rent a movie.”
“I was thinking long-range. At the moment, I’d settle for one last kiss and breakfast.”
“I can manage both of those.”
“From you I’ll take the kiss. I think we ought to get Hank and Kevin for breakfast. We’ll even get Sarah and go someplace with an outdoor terrace and champagne and strawberries.”
“Okay,” she said agreeably, but her voice went flat on him again.
She was quiet during the breakfast they all shared at an oceanside restaurant on Key Biscayne. Though her smile was warm and intimate whenever he managed to catch her eye, she evaded most of his attempts to draw her into the conversation.
Kevin was slowly beginning to respond to Sarah, reluctantly agreeing to go for a walk along the beach with her. Todd hadn’t thought it possible, but Liz went even quieter after that. Fortunately Hank kept up a nonstop conversation on business and the attributes of the various bikini-clad tourists wandering past. Both of them watched Liz uneasily, but neither of them seemed able to reach her. Not even Hank’s intentionally blatant, sexist remarks could goad her into a reaction stronger than a mild frown.
To Todd’s dismay, the minute they got back to his place she said she had to leave.
“I have a lot of papers to grade and lesson plans to complete,” she insisted over his protests.
Troubled but unable to do anything except accept her excuses, Todd said, “I’ll call you later.”
“Whatever,” she said, slipping into her car before he could even kiss her goodbye. He felt his stomach tie into knots as he watched her drive away.
“Hey, buddy, what was that all about?” Hank asked, waiting for him as he walked slowly back toward the house.
“I wish to hell I knew.”
“Last night—?”
“Is none of your business,” he snapped, heading for the terrace.
Hank followed silently. When they’d been seated for a few minutes, he said, “I’m not trying to pry, you know.”
Todd felt like a louse. “Oh, hell, I know you’re not. Nothing happened last night that should have sent her scurrying out of here this morning. Quite the contrary, I thought we were well on our way to a new understanding.”
“It may be my fault,” Sarah offered, coming to join them on the terrace.
Todd shook his head. “I asked her about that. She knows it’s over between the two of us. I don’t think she’s jealous.”
“Maybe not of you and me, but what about my relationship with Kevin? From what you’ve told me she’s taken a special interest in him from the beginning. After losing her own child, maybe she’s afraid of losing Kevin, too.”
Todd groaned as the obviousness of the explanation struck him. “That has to be it. Why the hell didn’t I see it?”
“Could be because you thought of yourself as the only important factor in the equation,” Sarah chided. “Liz may be looking at the whole package.”
“I’d better go talk to her.”
Sarah shook her head. “Talking won’t convince her, Todd. You’re going to have to show her that she’s still the most important person in your life and in Kevin’s. Actions speak louder than words. It’ll be easier when I’m gone.”
Todd regarded Sarah with new respect. “You’ve changed.”
She gave him a wry smile. “I told you I’d grown up. About time, don’t you think?”
“Better late than never,” he said, then stood up. “I think I’ll go call Liz. She should be home by now.”
He heard Hank’s ribald comment as he went into the kitchen. Sarah chuckled. Then he heard Kevin calling out to the two of them to watch him dive into the pool. His world was nearly perfect.
Then he heard Liz’s voice, his heart filled to overflowing and he knew the meaning of true contentment.
Chapter 13
As if he’d guessed the cause of her uneasiness, Todd set out to court Liz over the next few weeks. She recognized all the signs of a man intent on wooing a woman. She found flowers—tiny, delicate orchids, no less—on her desk at school, delivered mysteriously, no doubt by Kevin. Todd took her to romantic dinners in quiet, out-of-the-way restaurants. He took her on moonlit walks on the beach. And he made sure that Kevin was included in many of their outings. The lure of family was once again ensnaring her.
As the Christmas holidays neared, they went shopping together. Using Kevin as the excuse, they spent hours in toy stores, arguing over practicality and educational value versus sheer enjoyment. Todd insisted on a train. Liz picked out a talking computer that helped with spelling and reading. Todd chose a collection of battery-powered toy cars. Liz found picture-filled editions of classic books, as well. In the end it was clear that Kevin’s growing pile of presents was probably as much for them as it was for him.
Two weeks before Christmas Kevin begged to get a tree.
“It’s still early,” Todd protested. “All the needles will fall off.”
“The same tree will still be sitting on the lot a week from now,” Liz countered, taking Kevin’s side. “By then the needles will be in even worse shape from all that exposure to the sun.”
“Tell the truth,” Todd retorted with an indulgent smile. “You can’t wait, either. I’ve seen the way your eyes light up at the mall displays. The next thing I know you’re going to want to sit on Santa’s knee.”
She grinned back at him. “An intriguing notion. Think he’d bring me what I want?”
“Perhaps you ought to whisper it in my ear first.”
“Hey, you guys, are we gonna get a tree or not?” Kevin inquired testily.
“We’ll get the tree,” Todd s
aid, casting a look of regret at Liz.
It took hours. They finally found what they wanted at the fourth Christmas tree lot they went to.
“Hey, Dad, I think this is it,” Kevin shouted as Liz and Todd examined a small, perfectly formed Scotch pine on the other side of the lot.
“Let’s take a look at what he found.”
“But this one’s just fine,” Todd protested.
“Come on, Scrooge.”
When they rounded the corner of the last row, they found Kevin standing, hands on hips, staring up in awe at a storybook tree at least ten feet tall and so big around only the largest room would accommodate it. Liz’s eyes widened.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed softly.
“It’s too big. We’d have to move half the furniture.”
“Oh, Dad, please. I’ll help with the furniture.”
“We don’t have nearly enough decorations.”
“I’ll buy some new ones,” Liz offered.
Todd thew up his hands in surrender. He turned to the salesman. “I guess we’ll take it.”
“And the little one,” Liz said.
Todd looked bewildered. “The little one? Why two?”
“For my house.”
“But you’re hardly ever there.”
“It would seem too dreary without one.”
“I’ll go get it,” Todd said.
They stopped off at Liz’s house and decorated her tree in less than an hour. The efficient, emotionless process reminded her of all the Christmases when Ed had left the decorating to her and barely showed up long enough to exchange presents on Christmas morning. As much as she’d always loved the holidays, Ed had turned them into an ordeal to be gotten through stoically. Laura had been barely old enough to understand what was happening until that last Christmas. Liz treasured her memories of that day. Her family had come from Indiana, their last visit before the accident and before their own deaths a year later. Even Ed had been more jovial than usual, as they all shared in Laura’s wide-eyed amazement.
This year held all the promise of matching that last year with her family. Excitement already teased at her senses as it had when she’d been growing up in Indiana. There was no wintry bite in the air, no pond frozen over for ice-skating, and they hadn’t gone traipsing into the countryside to find the tree, but the spirit was there just the same.
On the way to Todd’s they stopped to pick up extra strands of lights, colored balls and boxes of icicles for his tree. They turned the night into an impromptu tree-decorating party. Hank came with his latest date. Kevin invited a friend. Liz fixed a huge pot of shrimp gumbo. Carols played in the background throughout the evening as they fought over the proper placement of the colored lights, then on the best technique for adding icicles.
When everyone else had left and Kevin had gone to bed, she and Todd sat on the sofa and stared at the blinking lights. “Silent Night” played softly around them.
“It’s beautiful. If you squint your eyes, all the lights sort of blend together. It’s like a kaleidoscope or maybe an impressionist painting,” she said, curled contentedly into Todd’s arms. When he didn’t respond, she poked him gently with her elbow. “Hey, you, don’t you think it’s beautiful?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured, running his finger along the back of her neck. “I can’t take my eyes off of you.”
“Oh, Todd.”
Her life, she decided, was just about perfect.
On Friday of the week before Christmas Liz was at the stove, Kevin at the kitchen table doing homework, when Todd came in through the garage. The mall had opened the week before with fireworks displays and sales to tempt even the most jaded shopper. He was simply finishing up the last minute work as the stores settled in. Already, a new project was underway. It would get into full swing the week after New Year’s. Hank had already left town for the holidays to visit friends in Maine. Since it was unseasonably hot still in Miami, he had promised to bring back snow for Kevin. Liz knew that Todd had bought tickets for all three of them to go visit the snow instead. The trip was yet another surprise for Kevin. She worried that Kevin was likely to become spoiled, especially with Sarah now doing her best to win him over, but it was not something she felt comfortable discussing with Todd. The status of their relationship was still too uncertain, too impermanent.
“A man could get used to this,” Todd said, dropping a kiss on her forehead as he reached into the refrigerator for a beer. He popped the top, took a sip, then lifted the lid of the pot on the stove. “Smells wonderful. What is it?”
“Seafood chowder.”
“Any lobster?” he inquired, winking at her.
“Have you checked the price of lobster lately?”
“Oh, is that why you left it out?”
Liz laughed at his determined reminder of the night they’d set the lobsters free in the Keys. “Don’t press your luck with me, Mr. Lewis. You’ll be eating hot dogs all alone on the patio.”
“There’s a front moving through. It’s cold on the patio.”
“Exactly,” she said, smacking his hand as it dipped into the salad bowl for another cherry tomato.
“Hey, Dad,” Kevin interrupted. “Can you help me with this?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a math assignment. You’re great at math.”
As Todd went to look over Kevin’s shoulder, Liz felt a familiar warmth stealing through her. This was what she’d expected to have with Ed, the camaraderie, the laughter, the caring. The last few weeks had been just about perfect, the best she’d ever had. It was all getting to be far too comfortable. How much longer would Todd allow this casual situation to last? How much longer before he began pressing for something more permanent? She loved him. She’d long since admitted that, but every time she thought of marriage, she bumped straight into all of her old insecurities. He seemed to have his share of doubts, as well.
As she watched, Todd straightened, a shuttered expression on his face. “You’ll get more out of it, if you try to do it yourself,” he said, his tone curt.
“But, Dad,” Kevin protested, as Todd threw his empty beer can into the trash can and walked through the door.
“Try, Kevin. If you still can’t get it, maybe Liz will help you when she has a minute. I’m going to take a shower before dinner.”
“Todd, there’s time,” she began, but he was already gone. She stared after him, wondering what on earth had gotten into him. He usually didn’t press Kevin like that, when he knew how easily the child gave up in the face of school work that seemed beyond him. “Sweetheart, I’ll help in a minute. Just let me stir the chowder.”
Kevin slammed his book on the floor. “I’m going swimming.”
“Kevin!”
Liz stared around the suddenly deserted kitchen. So much for a cozy evening at home.
Dinner was a tense affair. Todd looked guilty. Kevin sulked. And she foolishly tried to keep a conversation going despite it. She might as well have been talking to herself. After about twenty minutes of this strained atmosphere, Kevin asked to be excused.
“Go,” Todd said tightly.
“What has gotten into you?” Liz snapped. “When you came in tonight, you were in a perfectly good mood. Now you’re growling around like a bear with a thorn stuck in its paw. All Kevin did was ask for a little help with his homework. You didn’t have to make a federal case out of it. You know he still has difficulty with math when it involves word problems.”
He glared at her and said nothing. She scowled right back. “Don’t try intimidating me, Todd Lewis. I can always leave,” she said, proving the point by getting to her feet.
“That’s why you like it this way, isn’t it? When things get tough, you can still walk out.”
Stunned by the harsh accusation, she ripped off the apron she was wearing and grabbed her purse. As she passed his chair, he caught her wrist.
“Don’t go.”
“Let go of me,” she bit out, her teeth clenched.
/> “Liz, please.”
She sighed. “Can you give me one single reason I should stay?”
“I want you here. I’m sorry for what I said and I’m sorry for spoiling the evening.”
“I’m less concerned about having the evening spoiled than I am about what’s wrong with you.”
“I can’t explain. It’s just that sometimes my temper gets the better of me. It’s as if our whole relationship is all tied up with helping Kevin. Sometimes I wonder what will happen when the school year ends and he’s no longer your project.”
“My project? Is that what you think this is all about?”
“Isn’t it the truth? Haven’t you set your life up so that it works in neat little nine-month cycles? No one kid gets too close for too long. June rolls around and there’s a natural break, no messy emotional loose ends. This year it was Kevin. Sometimes I wonder if you’d put up with me at all, if you weren’t so worried about him.”
Liz was flabbergasted. “Todd, how can you even think that? How can you resent the fact that I care about Kevin? He’s your son. He’s not your competitor. I have enough love to go around.”
“I know that,” he said defensively. “And it’s not that I resent Kevin. Hell, I don’t know what it is. It was a long day.”
“No longer than most and you were in a great mood when you came through the door. Please, tell me what’s really wrong.”
Todd’s chair scraped the tiles as he shoved it back angrily. He threw his napkin on the table. “Just forget it. I’m going out for awhile.”
“Leaving me here with Kevin? I don’t think so. I’m not your hired babysitter, Todd.” Once again she grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter and stalked through the house and out the front door, setting off the burglar alarm in the process. She heard the damn thing ringing until she turned off the street.
The next morning Liz set out at dawn to drive to the Keys. Suddenly she needed desperately to see Ann. She needed her friend’s advice and warmth and the crazy exuberance of her household. She arrived while the kitchen seemed to be under siege. No one heard her knock, so she finally just walked in.
Miss Liz's Passion Page 16
